


After the Fall

by Danny (DannyC)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Gore, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Mentions of Howling Commandos - Freeform, Mentions of Steve Rogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 16:33:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6666067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyC/pseuds/Danny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After falling from the train, Bucky waits for Steve and their friends to find him, or death to finally take him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> The narrative here is a little weird, it's jumbled and fast-paced. It may seem very disorganized and kind of gross, but I was working with conveying his confusion and state of mind. I don't know how well it worked out, but I don't think it's too difficult to follow.

Cold, so.. so fucking cold, everything, but warm and fuzzy if he closes his eyes long enough. How did he get here? It’s hard to remember for a moment, his thoughts slow and lazy like molasses, or the blood in his frozen veins. When it comes to him again, Bucky can’t even manage a groan, just lets out a soft breath that would have been a whimper if he still had a voice.

It isn’t that clear. Steve comes to mind first, as he always does:   
 _High above ground and moving fast, smoke blowing overhead, a sound, long, drawn out and loud… a train. Cold wind whipping past his face, “just hold on,” and “give me your hand,” rattling past like the train he’s clinging to. Cramping fingers grasping desperately for the railing, looking up at blue and blond, gold like an angel's halo, and he had always been Bucky's angel, reaching out but the choice, the knowledge that he can’t take Steve down with him, never could._

And then he had fallen. Tumbling, head over heels, the world a mixture of blue skies and white snow, a terrible sound pulled from him as he falls down, down, towards certain death. Only… Bucky doesn’t die.

He doesn’t remember hitting the ground, not really. He remembers sharp pain, something terrible bubbling up inside him as he screams in pain when he tries to move his arm out from under him, pinned at an awkward angle. Christ, he remembers seeing the bone sticking out of his bicep, blood leaking around him and melting through the snow, painting everything around him crimson. He remembers looking up, unable to make out the smoke that should have been in the sky, telling him he’s been out for a while, that Steve is gone. And so, Bucky waits.

Bucky’s certain now that they fucked with him somehow, that whatever was in that chemical cocktail they gave him while strapped to that table did something to him, something like what Howard Stark and the government did to Steve. How else did he survive the fall, and continues surviving still, days after having fallen from that train? He doesn’t want to think about it, not really. Depending on when he does, Bucky is either thankful that he’s alive, that Steve might not find a dead body [because he’s coming, Steve is coming], or he wants to use his broken bones to slit his goddamn throat.

Days.

He has been there, lying in the snow for fucking _days_ before he hears anything, half out of his mind with cold and blood loss. He’s dying, he knows that, but he can... he can hear something, voices approaching. His body is covered with snow, limbs not.. really... _moving_ anymore, and his voice won’t rise to call out very loudly. Besides, he thinks, who knows who the voices belong to? What if they’re not friendlies? What if it’s not Ste–

“Cap, we’ve gotta head back, we can’t go further t'day,” a voice cuts through, and Bucky almost dies right then. It’s Steve and their friends, oh _god_ , please, it’s the Howlies, that's Dums, _please,_ _**please**_.

He can’t call out.   
He can’t move.   
He can’t do anything but listen.

He can sort of see them at one point, can hear them talking to one another, searching for him. A body, he realizes, not even _him_  anymore. He listens and watches as they move further and further away, until he can’t see them anymore, can’t hear them. Darkness comes over him though he doubts it’s actually night time, and he sleeps for a time.

When Bucky wakes next, he’s being moved, drug through the snow with blood trailing behind him. He’s distantly surprised he has any left to bleed.

Steve.

Steve has found him. But…

Steve doesn’t speak Russian.

**Author's Note:**

> When I wrote this, I had in mind that Bucky had imagined Steve and the Commandos, though I tried to keep from making that obvious or a first conclusion. Hell, you could probably read it and easily assume that it all really happened, that Steve and the Commandos came that close to finding him before the Russian's did. 
> 
> In my mind, Bucky's lost a lot of blood, is seriously injured and still recovering from his time in the POW camp, and has hallucinated Steve and the others, just like his memories of just before falling are scrambled and confused. I didn't say that in the story though, so if it makes you feel better to think Steve and the others searched for him and almost found him, go for it.


End file.
